Officials of irrigation and flood control department say some residents of Hajibagh on the outskirts of Srinagar have been hampering desilting work on Bemina-Hokarsar stretch of the flood spill channel, preventing completion of flood mitigation measures.
They also say lack of coordination between different departments involved was also holding up important and urgent flood mitigation work.
On this 5.3 kilometers stretch, authorities months earlier have already extracted 9.50 lac cubic meters of silt out of the 11 lac cubic meters they were supposed to take out.
The remaining 1.50 lac cubic meters are to be extracted at Hajibagh, where some locals are not allowing since months, hampering the flood mitigation work to be completed for which a small channel has now been made to drain water from Hajibagh to Hokarsar.
The residents demand construction of an embankment at Hokersar in violation of Supreme Court directions.
Officials say some residents “hijack” men and machinery to stop the works.
The work already done so far under phase-I of the project has increased carrying capacity of the FSC in the area from 14000 cusecs to 30000.
Under the flood mitigation plan, authorities are constructing a bridge at Shariefabad over the FSC to do away with a stretch of a road passing through the channel and restricting flow of water.
When water level rises in Jhelum the discharge through FSC must be quick.
The FSC starts from Padshahibagh and flows into Wullar Lake in Bandipora district, regulating Jhelum’s waters as it passes through the capital city Srinagar.
The work on bridge is executed by J&K Project Construction Corporation and deadline for its completion is March 2019.
“Taking the snail’s pace into consideration, the completion of the bridge will take around next three to four years. Work on this project is going on only occasionally,” a resident of the area said.
Two months earlier, authorities of public health engineering cut a portion of FSC embankment near Bemina bridge from Bypass side to fix water leakage on a pipeline.
Worryingly, the breach has been left unattended and can prove disastrous flood danger.
Officials of irrigation and flood control say they have repeatedly written to the authorities to repair the damaged portion, but to no avail.
Basharat Kawaso, executive engineer public health engineering, said officials will be asked to refill the damaged portion without any further delay.
At Hamdania Colony Bemina, retaining walls of the FSC at several spots have major gaps left two months earlier when power development department erected poles and a transformer through which water can enter the locality.
Authorities are waiting for PDD to shift these poles and transformer to the other side so that these gaps can be properly plugged.
“Irrigation and flood control department have completed its work. But the non-coordination of other agencies are ruining all measures taken for flood mitigation,” said a resident among a group of locals at Bemina.
Executive engineer FSC, GA Baigh admitted the issues exist, saying he has taken up all the mater with concerned authorities.